“When we perform, we are truly one voice and that unity makes our performances special for audiences.” Nikhil Arora ’16

The Dartmouth College Glee Club is a group of 40+ serious choral singers, led by interim director Filippo Ciabatti while a national search is under way.. Its ever increasing repertory spans five centuries, with a distinguished performance history including many of the masterworks of choral-orchestral literature, fully staged opera, operettas and musicals with all-student casts, large and small a cappella works and the cherished songs of Dartmouth College. In addition to international tours to Canada, Italy, and Brazil, the Glee Club regularly tours all across the United States. They have released 5 CDs of choral music and have performed the Brahms Requiem in Carnegie Hall in 2000. Their tour to Cuba in December of 2014 included the rarely performed Romancero Gitano for guitar and chorus.

RECENT REPERTOIRE

The Requiems of Brahms, Fauré, and Mozart

Samuel Barber, Prayers of Kiekegaard

Antonín Dvořák, Stabat Mater

Leonard Bernstein, Candide

Monteverdi, Lamento d’Arianna

A native of Florence, Italy, Filippo Ciabatti was appointed Music Director of the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra in 2016, after an international search.

Also, in 2016, Mr. Ciabatti conducted Tosca at Opera North (NH), directed by Russell Treyz, and Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Theatre at Illinois, directed by Christopher Gillett. In May 2015, he made his South American debut conducting the Universidad Central Symphony Orchestra in Bogota, Colombia, where he also taught masterclasses in orchestra and Italian opera. With La Nuova Aurora Opera, he conducted full productions of Handel’s Rodrigo (2015) and Purcell’s King Arthur (2016).

In 2017–2018, Mr. Ciabatti has been invited to conduct Madama Butterfly at Opera North (NH), Hansel and Gretel and Don Giovanni (directed by Nathan Gunn) at the Lyric Theatre at Illinois.

Mr. Ciabatti has appeared as guest conductor with many orchestras including the Lamont Symphony Orchestra, Sangamon Valley Symphony Orchestra, East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra, University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Truman State Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Choirmaster of Emmanuel Episcopal Church (Champaign, IL).

As a pianist and coach in Italy, Mr. Ciabatti worked for the Cherubini Conservatory, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Florence Opera Academy, and performed with singers such as Adriana Marfisi and Silvia Bossa. He has played for masterclasses of Renée Fleming, Nathan Gunn, William Matteuzzi, Donald George and Isabel Leonard. He is currently music director and coach of Scuola Italia per Giovani Cantanti Lirici (Piobbico, Italy), where he works with young singers and renowned coaches and directors.

He has attended conducting masterclasses in Europe and in the United States, studying with prominent teachers such as Mark Stringer, Michael Luig, David Effron, Lawrence Golan and Donald Schleicher. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Illinois.